1. LITERARY ONOMASTICS: examines the use of proper names in literature, and often focuses on the names of characters in fiction (characternyms). A primary requirement of onomastics is the clarification of certain basic terms relating to the concept proper name. In casual usage, proper names, proper nouns, and capitalized words are often taken to be the same thing. That assumption, however, can mislead, because the three expressions refer to three different things which partially overlap."(John Algeo, "Onomastics," in The Oxford Companion to the English Language, ed. by Tom McArthur. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992)
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